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Most of Jerry's romances in NBC's "Seinfeld" end in disaster, but few of them collapse as suddenly as his relationship with Debra Messing's character. Messing played Beth Lukner, a woman introduced as a potential love interest for Jerry in her first episode (Season 7's "The Wait Out") before finally dating him in her second episode (Season 8's "The Yada Yada"). Beth seems like a relatively normal person until her final five seconds of screentime, where she makes a jarringly racist, anti-Semitic comment. "Dentists, who needs them?" she says to Jerry, who laughs before she adds, "Not to mention the Blacks and the Jews."
GQ published an article in 2015 about the several actresses who played Jerry's girlfriends; Messing told the author that, as excited as she was about starring in the hit sitcom so early in her career, she'd felt nervous about playing such a "horrendous human being." She felt "tormented at first" about the script for her second episode, recalling, "I think I even called my parents. I said, 'This is really funny. It's subversive and provocative, laugh-out-loud funny, but does it freak you out?'"
Messing added, "I put way too much thought into it! But at the end of the day, I'm an actress, this is the best show on television, and that line happens to be an enormously juicy moment."
Read more: 15 Friends Episodes That Have Aged Poorly
The dark joke is still a hit with fans, even as Messing's reputation has changed
In a 2024 Reddit post on the "Seinfeld" subreddit, fans pointed to Messing's last moment as a contender for the show's funniest closing line by a non-main cast member. Clips of the joke are often well-received even in social media communities that aren't centered around "Seinfeld." The moment may have been jarring but compared to some of the other risqué jokes "Seinfeld" told over its run, fans tend to agree it holds up well.
Viewers have also often appreciated how odd it is to see Messing, a Jewish actress best known for her lead role in the progressive sitcom "Will & Grace", say something so hateful against Jewish people. However, the meta aspect of the joke was complicated in 2025 when Messing baselessly accused Muslim candidate and eventual Mayor Zohran Mamdani of having "celebrated 9/11."
Some "Seinfeld" fans saw Messing's comments as not so different from what Beth says to Jerry. In November 2025, when Messing shared a meme describing Mamdani as an "America-hating jihadist," some fans on the "Seinfeld" subreddit responded with a close-up image of Jerry's stunned face.
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